NBC admits Games loss

NBC, the television network that broadcast the Olympic Games in the United States, acknowledged yesterday that it sustained considerable losses in its experimental 'triple-cast' cable coverage, but said the losses were 'tolerable'.

Network executives refused to comment on estimated losses of between dollars 40m and dollars 100m. They said accounting had not been completed for the Games, which NBC showed on both its usual prime-time network broadcast and on three 24-hour-a-day cable channels. Cable subscribers paid a premium to see the supplementary coverage, provided through a joint venture with Cablevision Inc.

But NBC's president, Robert Wright, said the network had a 'tolerable loss' in light of the exposure the Olympics broadcast gave to other NBC programmes. The American networks take advantage of the large audience for the Games to advertise their autumn schedules.